Midwest luck

riverfever

NAXJA Forum User
Well I am now back from my trip (not vacation) to St. Louis. It sucked. All in all...I suffered a cracked windshield, a massive oil leak, t case leak, siezed auxillary fan, and a leaking radiator.

Friday night a friend of mine and member of the MWC chapter (Lawn Cher') put in a new gasket on the pan. Saturday I found a new fan at a boneyard and got that in and thought I had everything buttoned up. I decided to let the TC leak go until I got home. While checking for oil leaks, I found a coolant leak from the plastic petcock on my CSF rad. I went to tighten it and the butterfly portion snapped off. Then I decided to pull the rad. and come up with a solution for the petcock. I finally got the plastic threads out of the rad. I used a bolt and a rubber washer instead. I put a bit of silicone on it and threw it back together. My gal is running around kickin' it with friends while I'm sweatin' what little a$$ I got...off. It didn't help when my buddies A/C at his place went out. The trip was crappy and I am so glad to be back in CO.

Funny...Lawn Cher' actually arrived in Canyon City today and he and some buddies are coming up here on Sunday for me to show them some of the water around here. I must say...Mark was a really nice guy about helping me get the heep fixed. I truly felt lucky to be a member of such a fine club. He didn't even think of leaving until we had the pan back in and all of the bolts in place. I bought him a really sh!tty meal at Waffle House and just hope I can put him on a big South Platte trout. Just thought I'd share about the trip and commaraderie between members. Definitely a reason for non-members to join.
 
riverfever said:
My gal is running around kickin' it with friends while I'm sweatin' what little a$$ I got...off.
Some how when things break down on the road, they always find some way to do that.?

Glad you got back to CO

DAryl
 
I passed on the axle as we're closing on a house in a few days here and folks are lining up with their hands out asking for money. I think I've also decided to go with the advice of some that have suggested I get some more armor and actually wheel before I go making really big swaps. Sliders and belly pan are what I need.

I know I keep saying this but...I can't wait for the next forum user to ask why they should become a member. Led...Joey...Planefixer...were all very good about putting up with my issues prior to leaving CO. I did the rear main and pan gasket to fix a smaller leak and they all helped get me through it. Like Jeff said, I even bugged him on the phone from the road. I don't know what I can do to show my appreciation to you guys. Mark wants to fish so I'll take him and his 2 friends out. I'm happily straight in sexual orientation so I guess for the rest of you guys I'll just be on stand by until you move, or do a really unpleasant job. :laugh:
 
riverfever said:
Mark wants to fish so I'll take him and his 2 friends out.

Thanks for showing us a beautiful stretch of water Chris. I've never seen trout that big, let alone watched them get hooked and landed. Unfortunately I find myself lacking the patience for the finesse required to do what you do so well, but I enjoyed the experience nevertheless. And Matt was overjoyed to land his first trout, with his first time on a fly rod no less. Beginner's luck perhaps.

After we left you, we took FR 211 over the mountains to 77 and 24 and found Spinney Reservoir. What an awesome drive... even without having my Jeep there I enjoyed the backroad driving in my Suburban. And the 2 nice Rainbows that Matt and I landed at the lake were icing on the cake, his around 20" and mine around 14". We used ultralight spinning gear, him tossing a rattling crankbait and me a 3" silver metalflake curly-tail grub on a 1/8 oz. jighead. I was actually figuring on tangling with some of the pike in there, so the trout were a surprise. The drive down route 9 back to Royal Gorge was a nice end to the day. I'll forward the pics when I get them from Matt.
 
That is AWESOME!!! I felt bad after you guys left. The weather did not cooperate that day at all. Sometimes a nasty mountain storm will whip up but that one seemed to camp out for a bit. Heather was worried b/c it was really nasty in Woodland with loads of lightning. It can be tough dealing with the weather, wind, lockjawed trout, to stick with the flyrod. I'm not a snob but I think for me it's more of a challenge that I need. Even if you guys would have had spinning gear in the canyon I don't believe I would have been much help. I do know that it can be difficult to stay enthused on crappy days like that one. Sometimes after 8 hours and nothing to show for it I get frustrated. I just like being on the river though. Landing a fish is a bonus. I'm glad you guys had fun and got onto some fish. Hope the drive home went by quickly. We'll see you again soon Mark. I'll be in touch.

-Chris
 
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